Many called out for a cure or a vaccine when the novel coronavirus began spreading around the world. So, the search for the most effective and harmless vaccine began worldwide; however, vaccine development is often slow and complicated.
In China, doctors have found a new type of coronavirus treatment that could give COVID-19 patients relief without the use of vaccines. The scientists injected antibodies isolated from recovered coronavirus patients into the mice that still had an infection.
The researchers claim that the new treatment may stop the virus in its tracks as it dramatically reduced the viral load by a factor of 2,500, reported by BGR. If this new treatment is proven to be safe and effective, then the world may not need any vaccine anymore to feel a bit safer during this time of the pandemic, said the scientists.
Dramatic Positive Results
The new treatment developed by the Chinese doctors has only been tested on mice, but early trials so far appear to have promising results. Sunney Xie, the director of Peking University's Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Genomics, where the treatment is currently tested, told AFP that the treatment dramatically reduced the viral load in mice.
According to Xie, the "neutralizing antibodies" injected into the mice cut the viral load "by a factor of 2,500." That is a massive destruction in the amount of virus present in the body of an infected organism. Scientists said that it could have a dramatic effect if the same proves to be true for humans.
The antibodies that were injected into the mice came from the blood of the 60 recovered patients. The scientists isolated the antibodies before using them against the living virus in infected mice. They published their research in the journal Cell.
Xie hopes that the drug will be ready for use later this year and in time for any potential outbreak of the virus. As of writing, there are about 4.8 million people around the world infected, including 317,000 deaths.
But why Do we Need a Vaccine?
People hope to have a COVID-19 vaccine available as soon as possible. A vaccine gives a person's body a blueprint for fighting off the virus before an infection happens. It is a weakened form of the virus that is injected, and once the immune system destroys it, it remembers how to combat the virus and the antibodies it needs if the virus ever shows up.
But with the new treatment discovered by the Chinese doctors, a vaccine can already be eliminated in the picture. It is like recruiting a bunch of microscopic soldiers to fight the virus rather than training your own soldiers the new skills it will need to use to beat it.
Xie and his team are already preparing for human trials after a successful result from the initial trials conducted in the mice. They also hope that these antibodies can be used to help develop a drug that will fight off existing coronavirus infections while the whole world waits for a vaccine.
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